Was Harsimrat sidelined?

Ruchika M Khanna

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 21

The lone Akali minister in Narendra Modi’s Cabinet, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, was not part of the team that received Justin Trudeau at the Golden Temple, triggering speculation that she was sidelined by the SAD’s ally, the BJP. The saffron party preferred to send its own Sikh minister, Hardeep Singh Puri.

Till two days ago, the SAD had been claiming that Harsimrat and party chief Sukhbir Singh Badal would welcome the Canadian PM. It was an opportunity for the party to appease Canadian Sikhs. In the past, Akali leaders, on their visits to Canada, have faced the wrath of Sikhs settled there.

It is learnt that Harsimrat was apparently asked by the BJP top brass not to attend the reception being given to Trudeau here, even as Sukhbir did not get clearance from the Ministry of External Affairs to accompany Trudeau inside the shrine complex. The SAD chief received the Canadian premier and his team in the SGPC office.

Hardeep Puri and Local Bodies Minister Navjot Sidhu were not given “siropas”, apparently because the SAD-controlled SGPC took exception to sidelining of the Badals.

Akali leaders claimed that Harsimrat had to meet the Uttar Pradesh CM.

“By giving a grand reception to the high-powered Canadian delegation, we have honoured a Sikh (Canadian minister Harjit Sajjan) who has reached great heights in Canada and done the qaum proud,” a senior Akali leader said. The party claimed that Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh’s snub to Sajjan last year had cast a shadow on today’s meeting between the CM and Trudeau.